The good, the bad and the ugly of point-of-care ultrasound

Alistair Murray

Emerg Med Australas 2020 Feb;32(1):158-159

The use of focussed ultrasound (US) or point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has changed significantly over the years, as has the way we learn US: from attending workshops to accessing multiple online resources and increasingly realistic simulators. The knowledge and understanding of the ways we learn has developed with it the need for deliberate practice, spaced repetition and meaningful feedback. With these advances there are significant challenges in trying to ascertain what level of proficiency we have attained. We know that self- assessment is deeply unreliable, for example, if you were to ask a room full of people, ‘Please raise your hand if you think you are an above average driver’, it can be practically guaranteed that over 50% of the room will raise their hand. Experience alone is not enough, or else we would award FACEM upon completion of rotations, without the need for examinations or in- training assessments.